I have grown weary of the debates between atheists and Christians because the question for the vast majority of people is not, “Does God exist?” but rather, “Who is the God we should worship?” I see lecture halls packed with believers and unbelievers alike all awaiting a scholarly Fourth of July Fireworks show. Audiences captivated by the pyrotechnic display of the rhetorical sparklers and bottle rockets lighting up the academic evening sky. Each camp temporarily rejuvenated because their worldview fires have been stoked by the oratorical flame of their hero or fueled by the useless linguistic chaff of their enemy. Nothing changes. The event may briefly breathe new life into the deeply held presuppositions of the combatants, but in the end they will continue to inhale the same worldview air, living with or without God. As an academician, I find the ideas presented in these debates very interesting, but as practical tools for advancing either agenda I find them ineffective. The worldview rubber must meet the real world road if either camp wants to be believable to the majority of the people that just want the truth. I think physicians have a unique perspective from which to weigh in on these important issues because they straddle the physical world of disease and the spiritual world of grief and are frequently the ones called upon to test-drive these worldview’s on the racetrack of human illness.

I want to offer the thoughts of one who occupies the no man’s land between the entrenched religious and scientific factions. I am the medic caring for the dead and dying left unattended in the combat zone of this worldview battle. I hear the mortar shells of scientific, theological, and philosophical theory whizzing over my head, but don’t have the time to admire their trajectory because there are millions of people spiritually and physically dying in this theater of war. I live in a land where scientific limits are reached and corpses are sent to the morgue. A land where families try to bury the dead in the back of their minds only to find a spiritual realm haunted by demons and angels unleashed every time they pierce the soft earth of their mental cemeteries. Strangely enough, as I tend to their wounds, I see them as neither evolutionary unfit nor afflicted by God. What is going on here?

We need to be careful when we hear scientists speculate on the existence of God, and pastors teach earth science. Why is a scientist uncomfortable stepping into a neonatal unit and telling parents that their extremely premature baby is evolutionarily unfit? Why is a pastor uncomfortable entering into a neonatal unit unplugging IV’s, turning off ventilators, and informing everybody that all we need is prayer? To the scientists I say that life is not just a chemical infrastructure, but rather an amazing biological machine filled with a spirit. To the pastor I say, pray with me, but don’t pray without me.

I’m tired of worldview theories fighting theoretic battles on theoretic battlefields. If you want to rumble, then rumble in the real world because that is where, “we live and move and have our being.” Therefore if you want to be believable, you must thoughtfully address both the physical and spiritual aspects of our human nature. In medical research the mantra is, “bench to bedside,” where the viability of a theory, drug, or technology developed on a laboratory bench must translate to medical care delivered to real people at the hospital bedside. Likewise the theological ideas delivered to parishioners must also translate into a real world vernacular if Christianity is to make it from the pulpit to the pew. Over the next several weeks I will explore these ideas from the perspective of one who has had to minister to both the needs of the body and soul and make the case for a Christian view of the world.